Aston Villa are in for Brighton and Hove Albion midfielder Yves Bissouma, Sky Sports' Dharmesh Sheth reports. 

The lowdown

Villa have already agreed one January deal, with Philippe Coutinho set to arrive on loan from FC Barcelona.

And now it seems Bissouma, who's made a century of Premier League appearances for Brighton since his arrival from LOSC Lille in 2018, is on their radar.

The Mali international, valued at £22.5million by Transfermarkt, is currently away at the Africa Cup of Nations.

The latest

'Aston Villa [are] interested' in Bissouma, Sheth tweeted, with the midfielder now into the final 18 months of his contract.

However, he did note that Graham Potter 'expects' all his players to remain at Brighton this month.

The verdict

Bissouma would be a magnificent signing for Steven Gerrard and Villa. He's a ball-winning machine, ranking in the 94th percentile among positional peers for tackles per 90 and the 91st for interceptions (via FBRef).

BBC Sport's Gary Lineker has described him as 'exceptional', while former team-mate Eder has described him as a 'powerful' presence with 'huge potential'.

'Elite clubs' have been monitoring him - the likes of Liverpool, Manchester United and Real Madrid have all been 'credited with interest' - and so this would be a real coup.

It's worth stressing, though, that The Seagulls seem to have no plans to sell.

In other news, fans react to interest in this winger.